Joy to the Worlds / OTI Press (ePub)

Maniacal Christmas bots. Genetic reindeer mutations. Otherworldly holiday visitors. And much more yuletide mayhem...

Presenting the Speculative Fiction Writers' first holiday anthology: Joy to the Worlds!

A collection of thirteen flash fiction stories that evoke the wonder, magic, meaning, and even darkness of the holiday season. From the magic of Santa Claus to the religious underpinnings of the holiday to the closeness of family in the yuletide spirit.

Do the spirits of Christmas bring loneliness and heartache, or cheer and laughter? Will you suffer holiday misery or enjoy the seasonal festivities? Either way, you will enjoy these imaginative stories from eleven accomplished and award-winning science fiction and fantasy authors.

A time-traveling mishap helps three weary travelers reach their destination in Roswell Award Finalist, Matthew Cushing's "Guiding Flight."

In Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards winner, Cheryl Fallin's "The Greatest Gift," a plague-ravaged future with government shock troopers usually means death, but for a chosen few, it leads to a very different fate.

Ever wonder why reindeer have red noses? Scientists present their research in "Mutations of the RUDL gene in rangifer tarandus: Analysis and methods" by Paul Martz.

In "The Christmas Visit" by R. C. Beckett, Zeus, the family dog, fills in for a babysitter who is late. An unexpected Christmas Eve visit requires Zeus to solve an otherworldly problem.

In Kayelle Allen's "Drab Droids," a worker droid gets decked out for Christmas by his humans and his robot peer struggles to make sense of the "unauthorized" peripheral.

When a heavyset intern starts at a magic toy company, new products are developed with real magic in Bruce I. Schindler's "Santa: Man or Myth?"

Set in a mythic arena of winter, "The Champion of Arctica" by Roswell Award Finalist, Matthew Cushing depicts a gladiatorial winner who savors the challenges of winning the most festive of titles.

In R.D. Henry's "Desert Christmas," a ranch's self-proclaimed canine Navajo warrior faces javelina and a hostile desert in a desperate search for his missing mate on Christmas morning.

For thousands of years, pagan holiday celebrations rule the winter season-until the introduction of a cursed branch triggers a new normal in Colorado Authors League Writing Award winner, L.V. Ditchkus' "Yuletide Curse of the Elder Bough."

Though Christmas carols normally bring cheer, in Samone Yuen's "Jingle Bells", the festive song heralds the onslaught of maniacal bots.

In J.K. Washer's "Llamel Bright," off-world colonists celebrating their Landing Night with their beasts of burden invoke memories of an ancient Earth holy night.

Bruce I. Schindler illustrates a holiday axiom that, in a family of omnipotent beings, sometimes the best present is peace and quiet in his "Holiday Magic."

In Andrew Abarca's "The Revivification of Ivory Eveningfleck," a faerie deals with Seasonal Affective Disorder.